Attachment Centred Therapy

This textbook provides a detail guide to the use of Attachment Centred-Therapy (ACT), a model designed over the course of three decades which enables future and present therapists to co-construct a more coherent narrative of a person’s life, an essential indicator of one’s emotional and mental health. This book provides students and practitioners undergoing professional development with a detailed and applicable guide to using the model, written by the man who designed and developed the therapy. As such, this book is based on real world experience of the implementation of therapy, considering theory and research, and demonstrates how ACT can be used in applications across a wide range of clinical contexts.

The purpose of ACT is to help those undergoing therapy equip themselves with new resources which can assist in dealing with their predominate issues by changing how they process information about the past in the present, to achieve a better outcome in the future. ACT is a growth-oriented psychotherapy, designed using Maslow’s Modified Hierarchy of Needs as a guide, and is distinctive because it utilizes the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) as both an assessment instrument and as a vehicle for therapeutic intervention. Another of its benefits is that it’s a collaborative treatment, with the therapist forming a team with the therapy’s recipient, and then engaging together in a joint effort to create a more coherent narrative of the past, and to correct errors in information processing.

This textbook is made up of practical guidance on the application of ACT, with each concept brought to life with case-study examples, complete with sections of dialogue from sessions annotated to illustrate the methods. It will provide a valuable new teaching tool for teachers and students of systemic practice, family therapy, clinical psychology, counselling, and psychotherapy, alongside qualified practitioners, and practitioners in training.

Charley Shults has worked as a counsellor and therapist for nearly 40 years. He is a leading figure in the field of Attachment Therapy, having trained extensively with renowned practitioner Pat Crittenden using her Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment, who was trained by Mary Ainsworth, who was trained by John Bowlby, the originator of Attachment Theory.